RUMPELSTILTSKIN

Story by the Grimm Brothers

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y the side of a wood, in a country a long way off, ran a fine stream
of water; and upon the stream there stood a mill. The miller's house was
close by, and the miller, you must know, had a very beautiful daughter.
She was, moreover, very shrewd and clever; and the miller was so proud
of her, that he one day told the king of the land, who used to come and
hunt in the wood, that his daughter could spin gold out of straw. Now
this king was very fond of money; and when he heard the miller's boast
his greediness was raised, and he sent for the girl to be brought before
him. Then he led her to a chamber in his palace where there was a great
heap of straw, and gave her a spinning-wheel, and said, 'All this must
be spun into gold before morning, as you love your life.' It was in vain
that the poor maiden said that it was only a silly boast of her father,
for that she could do no such thing as spin straw into gold: the chamber
door was locked, and she was left alone.

She sat down in one corner of the room, and began to bewail her hard
fate; when on a sudden the door opened, and a droll-looking little man
hobbled in, and said, 'Good morrow to you, my good lass; what are you
weeping for?' 'Alas!' said she, 'I must spin this straw into gold, and
I know not how.' 'What will you give me,' said the hobgoblin, 'to do it
for you?' 'My necklace,' replied the maiden. He took her at her word,
and sat himself down to the wheel, and whistled and sang:

Rumpelstiltskin Story Facts

Vivian Vande Velde wrote a book called The Rumpestiltskin Problem which is a humorous book that includes a few versions of the fairy tale that try to fill the plot holes of the story.

The Aarne-Thompson fairy tale classification system classifies Rumpelstiltskin as type 500, which is The Name of the Helper

Rumpelstiltskin is a key character in the Shrek Forever After movie. In that movie, Rumpelstiltskin tricks Shrek into being erased from existance and moved to an alternate timeline where Rumpelstiltskin rules.

And round about the wheel went merrily; the work was quickly done, and
the straw was all spun into gold.

When the king came and saw this, he was greatly astonished and pleased;
but his heart grew still more greedy of gain, and he shut up the poor
miller's daughter again with a fresh task. Then she knew not what to do,
and sat down once more to weep; but the dwarf soon opened the door, and
said, 'What will you give me to do your task?' 'The ring on my finger,'
said she. So her little friend took the ring, and began to work at the
wheel again, and whistled and sang:

The king was greatly delighted to see all this glittering treasure;
but still he had not enough: so he took the miller's daughter to a yet
larger heap, and said, 'All this must be spun tonight; and if it is,
you shall be my queen.' As soon as she was alone that dwarf came in, and
said, 'What will you give me to spin gold for you this third time?'
'I have nothing left,' said she. 'Then say you will give me,' said
the little man, 'the first little child that you may have when you are
queen.' 'That may never be,' thought the miller's daughter: and as she
knew no other way to get her task done, she said she would do what he
asked. Round went the wheel again to the old song, and the manikin once
more spun the heap into gold. The king came in the morning, and, finding
all he wanted, was forced to keep his word; so he married the miller's
daughter, and she really became queen.

At the birth of her first little child she was very glad, and forgot the
dwarf, and what she had said. But one day he came into her room, where
she was sitting playing with her baby, and put her in mind of it. Then
she grieved sorely at her misfortune, and said she would give him all
the wealth of the kingdom if he would let her off, but in vain; till at
last her tears softened him, and he said, 'I will give you three days'
grace, and if during that time you tell me my name, you shall keep your
child.'

Brothers Grimm Factoids

The Grimm Brothers first volume of fairy tales was published in 1812 and was called , "Household Tales by Brothers Grimm". This collection included tales they had collected from villagers and peasants from around their area of Germany. However, it also included tales from other sources including published works from other authors from other cultures.

In 1962 an American movie called "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" was released. It included many high profile actors of the time. It was a fictional account of their lives as young men mixed with some of their fairy tales. The movie won an Oscar for costume design and it was nominated in several other award categories.